House Republicans: End ‘harmful’ wind tax credit

Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) called on House GOP leadership to end the Wind Production Tax Credit (PTC).

Pompeo and 54 other House members wrote to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Wednesday calling on them to let the “crony” tax subsidy for energy companies to expire.

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“We offer our full support of the current process undertaken by the House Committee on Ways and Means that will allow the most anti-competitive and economically harmful tax provisions, specifically the wind energy production tax credit (PTC), to expire,” the letter stated. “Ensuring that our nation’s patchwork tax code undergoes significant reform is a noble goal and, as part of this process, we believe Congress should stop picking winners and losers and finally end the wind PTC.”

The lawmakers argued that the PTC costs taxpayers too much while inflating energy costs.

“Extending the wind PTC is a key priority for the Obama administration and its efforts to prop up wind and other favored ‘green energy’ technologies,” the Republicans wrote. “Proponents of the wind PTC continue to call for an extension despite growing evidence that this subsidy has not only cost taxpayers billions, but has caused significant price distortions in wholesale electricity markets.”

The Senate tax extender bill included an extension of the PTC, but House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) has been passing tax reform in a piecemeal fashion — extending one tax credit at a time and deciding to let others simply expire.

“By ending this program now we will have given the wind industry a more than generous phase-out for a credit that is being awarded to a mature technology,” the letter stated. “We applaud Chairman Camp’s leadership on this important issue and urge you to stand firm with him in opposition to extending this provision and allow the wind energy to compete on its own.”